Deterioration of "Youth"

Choose 1 out of the 2 quotations and respond. In your response,  find an angle that you find interesting and write. there are lots of sub questions to ask yourself:  What thematic elements are pertinent to discuss?  Are we seeing something new in the characters and/or their thinking?  Can you connect this to other ideas we have been talking about to this point in novel?  

1) "We remember mighty little of all that rubbish. Anyway, it has never been the slightest use to us.  At school nobody ever taught us how to light a cigarette in a storm of rain, nor how a fire could be made with wet wood--nor that it is best to stick a bayonet in the belly because there it doesn't get jammed, as it does in the ribs" (85).

In chapter 5 of "All Quiet on the Western Front" by Erich Maria Remarque the soldiers are easing off together and start talking about their plans after the war and also contemplate about their past lives. Müller, Kropp and Paul all start to ask each other about topics that they have learned about in school, when Paul, a bit by surprise shares a thought on page 85; "We remember mighty little of all that rubbish. Anyway, it has never been the slightest use to us.  At school nobody ever taught us how to light a cigarette in a storm of rain, nor how a fire could be made with wet wood--nor that it is best to stick a bayonet in the belly there it doesn't get jammed, as it does in the ribs." This thought from Paul reveals how after one joins the army and the experiences you go through after joining the army during wartime change your thoughts. Here Paul explains that from the schooling that he received, not much is very useful when it comes to real life situations. The quote from page 85 can also display the soldiers continual deterioration of "Youth", which is described in this book as (sorry I do not remember the page or exact passage so I am merely trying to paraphrase from memory) adventurous and optimistic. The passage evidently reveals this because the Paul's thoughts being so negative on what he had learned in school.

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